Chapter 1

Thunder rumbled with foreboding violence somewhere off to the west above the lush, surrounding hills of the valley. Yet, stars twinkled now and then in the warm, summer-night sky where the patches of gathering clouds didn't obscure them. A pale half-moon outlined the small town's hushed streets when the sweeping masses permitted, determining century-old, framed houses and great, gnarled elm-trees lining the ways. A white, wooden church-steeple that had stood in Cresent Valley since its founding some five- score years passed, dominated the heart of the settlement.

It was late, nearing midnight, and the town square, along with its two-blocks of locked business establishments, rested in the feeble, silent glow of sparse street-lamps and occasional neon tubings of vivid reds, greens and blues. A distance off in the hills, an animal, a stray wolf perhaps, wailed an eerie howl that carried across the uneasily sleeping valley. Then, the unmistakable sound of rhythmic footfalls against pavement grew louder, shattering the ghostly stillness. By the dim, artificial light, one could make out the trim figure of a young girl moving rapidly as she hummed to herself in a timorous voice and turned onto the darkness of Cypress Street, purposely ignoring the far-end of the square where the town hall loomed. Immediately, her tiny feet began to gain in tempo.

Lightning, but not of the jagged, bolt variety, momentarily illuminated her night world as she walked with increasing speed along the nearly pitch-darkened street toward her home. Her young mind was not at ease and she hummed as if to deny that to herself. She was thinking that her Uncle Link could get quite up-tight when she stayed out after eleven... and it was almost midnight. But they'd been having such a good time dancing and talking that she'd truly forgotten about the hour. She hoped that he wouldn't be waiting for her... and if Nell Carter was there he wouldn't be... that was a near certainty. She could well surmise what he would be doing with his bleached housekeeper from L.A... !

The lightning flashed again, startling her, following by the vibrating roll of distant thunder. It would storm tonight, she thought. Last night it had nearly broken when she'd accompanied Uncle Link and the men on their frantic chase after the wild dog pack. She hadn't wanted to go, but he'd insisted. She was an expert rifle marksman and a capable horse-woman, prime requisites when the sheep were being threatened. She'd had no choice but to go, and God... she would never forget it! The way her uncle had clubbed and tortured that wild, fawn-colored female dog! What a beautiful animal she had been, too, and almost ready to whelp. It sickened her now as she remembered the vicious manner he'd used to beat the beautiful animal rather than shoot her. Some of the men had actually cursed him...

"Dammit, shoot her, Chief! You don't have to torture the bitch that way... !"

But for a few minutes he'd been like a maniac, as if he'd lost all control! There'd been no stopping him; he'd hardly heard a word any of them shouted at him.

"For Christ sake, stop it, Unk! No need for that... !"

"Shut up, you damned fools!" he'd roared at them, clubbing the wailing crippled animal, but only hard enough to break its bones and not kill it. "You want your goddamned sheep raided night after night... or do you want to put an end to it? Well... ? This is the way to do it! The rest of that pack has got to hear her cries! That's the only way to drive them off... throw the fear of man into them... !"

Maybe, he had been right, she didn't know, but the ordeal had affected her as nothing before in her teenaged life. Even in the despicable hatred she'd suddenly felt toward him while he was cruelly killing the dog, certain sensations of incredible excitement had filled her, causing her young body to tremble and cover with chilling goose-flesh. God, it had been weirdly exhilarating! Yet, only moments before as she'd waked through the square, she had kept her eyes averted from viewing the poor dead thing where she hung on the flagless pole in front of the town hall. There was something about her uncle's hanging of the animal's senselessly broken carcass there that nauseated her, but once again he'd insisted that the wild pack would know and stay clear, that the massive German Shepherd which led them would understand "in his devil's soul that he'd met his match... !" Yes, he was probably right... violence seemed to be the only way in this world...

Split seconds of brightening flashes again made familiar surroundings discernible and Annie Purcell, sixteen-years old, hummed louder to herself as she quickly tripped along toward her Uncle Link Morgan's home, unaware of the avenging eyes intently watching her approach. Had she been closer when the skies briefly glowed she might have caught the glistening reflection from the gold medallion that hung from a chain at the throat of the huge German Shepherd dog. She might even halve seen the figure of an eagle embossed on one of its sides, or the ancient Roman centurion on the opposite... or perhaps, the name inscribed in circled letters: Caesar... !

The sleek and powerful animal had stealthily slipped into Crescent Valley once darkness had blanketed the town. With embittered patience, he had lingered in a nearby wooded slope waiting for the shadows to lengthen, his unique senses vindictively tormented by the cruel, drawn-out death of his mate. He had watched the unnecessary torture and instinctively thought of his young in her belly. Around him, the pack had uneasily milled at her agonized cries, certain males daring to move in close, as if to challenge his leadership. But a growling warning had been sufficient to shy them off. There was nothing to be done, he accurately sensed, when the human chose to destroy them... nothing, only retribution!

Now, he clung in motionless silence to the shadows of the overgrowth, his burning amberish eyes piercing the night as if it did not exist. He watched the girl's approach and knew her from the night before. There was youth and vivacious beauty in her movements, his inimitable instincts told him. Earlier, he had stalked the house not a half-block away of the brute-man who had so cruelly killed his mate. Then, he had intuitively moved toward this overgrown excavation where a human's shelter had once been started and not completed. Only the pit where the cellar had been dug, its stone foundation laid and nearly hidden beneath scrub brush, remained. There, he waited, a mysterious and indefinable power advising him of the oncoming girl and her relationship to the man and the town he had sworn his animal vengeance against.

... Sometimes, maybe too often, when she was alone and uneasy in the darkness, Annie thought of her parents and that fateful night they had the accident on the way to San Diego. It was futile, even foolish, she knew; they were very gone... long ago... and now there was only Uncle Link, but she couldn't help thinking about them sometimes.

Well... she did love her uncle. He'd been good to her; besides, he was her mother's brother and only living relative. But... but the way he'd begun to look at her lately, too often in fact, especially when he'd been drinking, which was every night... His eyes... the gleam in them, and the twist to his mouth... God, it frightened her. It was those times that she was glad that Nell Carter was in the house. Perhaps, she was being silly... after all, he was the town's Chief of Police, and certainly he'd never made even one out of the way advance toward her in the six years she'd lived with him. Really, it was unfair of her to harbor such feelings. He had enough enemies in the Valley as it was without her adding her name to their list.

Still... why had he felt it necessary to torture that beautiful female dog before he killed her? She had never seen him like that in all of the many hours they had spent together hunting and riding. It hardly seemed that such brutality was necessary, even in this callused world. Yet, she still couldn't deny the strange feeling of almost obscure excitement it had given her! God, she wasn't some sort of sadist like they talked about in sex- education at school, was she? Maybe it was inherent... in the family blood! Hadn't she actually become all goose-pimply and keyed-up, seeing him wielding that club across the beautiful animal's back... !

M-My God... ! Wh-What was that... ? F-for a moment... she'd thought she saw eyes... burning eyes like glowing coals in that brush... ! What on earth could it be! M-Maybe, she b-better start running... !

Caesar anticipated the long, chestnut-haired teenager's frightened move seconds before she made it, and with furtive swiftness bolted from his hidden place to confront her there on the narrow sidewalk!

In overwhelming horror, Annie froze! She stared in awesome disbelief at the massive creature's viciously bared fangs gleaming in the faint moon-light! Her breathing choked in her young throat at the blazing eyes that were fixed on her and the ferocious, deep-throated growl that the huge beast threateningly gave forth! Had she tried, she knew that she could not move... her legs were growing numb, as if they were petrified! It was him... the wild pack's leader! The thing around his neck glistening in the moonlight... she had thought she'd seen such a medal when they'd chased and gotten close to them the night before... ! Oh... Oh God... he was moving toward her, crouching, preparing to leap... ! Scream! Scream... ! She tried, but couldn't... and then, mercifully she fainted...

... Strange sensations of tingling warmth rippled through Annie's young belly as she lay limply on her back, a maze of disconnected thought-waves suddenly swirling through her head. Confusion swept through her and she tried to move, but stopped at the sound of a low, animal-like snarl. She opened her eyes then, yet continued to lie there unmoving, the strange stirring sensations in her belly ever-increasing with a weirdly rising excitement. Her teenaged brain functioned in its effort to restore normalcy. W-Where was she... ? It was dark... yet there was a half-moon and... and stars... wh-what had happened... ?

Thunder filled the darkness of the warm summer air as simultaneously, further charges of stimulating arousal raced through her youthful loins and belly. Annie raised her hands to her throat in revived fear. She lifted herself to her elbows with the full brunt of her returning memory. Then, by the flash of revealing lightning, she saw that she was naked... wholly and shamefully naked... saw that she was lying with her legs obscenely spread apart... and... and that the massive wolf-like German Shepherd was standing between her thighs--his tongue laxly out and his great head lowered just above... above her pantyless vagina!

Again, fire-filled sensations charged through the young virginal core of her naked body. The warm, wet contact of his saliva-drenched tongue spread open the sparse, hair-lined lips of her tight young cuntal crevice, Waving its sensitive, pink inner- flesh with a taunting upsweep that sent uncontrollable shivers of sudden passion brushing over her! My God! He... he was licking her down there between her open thighs!

Had she been petrified prior to fainting, Annie was now shockingly panic-struck. The unbelievable sight of what was happening between her naked, widespread legs, the realization that the vicious animal was actually licking at her virginal young pussy with his hot, wet tongue, was about to drive her hysterical. Yet, somehow, she knew that she must retain control of herself if she were to come out of this alive! To struggle against him in any way might bring him fiercely charging at her throat!

She couldn't restrain the whimper of extreme dread when, by the next flash of lightning, she saw tatters of her clothing ripped and strewn about them. God, he must have torn them from her with his teeth! Wh-what sort of animal was it that would do such a thing to a human female... ? She gaped at him through the darkness which her eyes were growing accustomed to, and saw his own burning orbs staring hotly at her as he continued to obscenely lick and nuzzle at her helplessly exposed vaginal lips. A tremor of incredulous sensations caused her to convulse in her shameful nakedness. Oh Cod, he-he was almost human... that expression in his unrelenting eyes... and what he was doing to her nakedly stripped loins!

Oooohh... what he was doing to her! She'd never known such sensuous feelings in her belly, and her pussy, in spite of her fear, felt as if there was a hot little fire glowing inside it! Even... even her breasts tingled in excitement, she realized, as she mentally cupped, then pinched their tiny, hardened nipples... But... but this was insane! My God... the dog would kill her before he was done... tear her to pieces! She had to keep her head... to get away from him as soon as possible! Maybe... maybe, if she just jumped to her feet and ran... ? God, she had to do something; he intended to kill her, she felt certain of that... and... and maybe even eat her... !

It was the latter horrible thought that made Annie feebly cry out, then attempt to scramble onto hands and knees and blindly crawl away. Caesar waited only long enough for her to reach the all-fours position before unleashing a savage growl, stopping the curvaceous, naked teenager in icy-veined terror. She uncontrollably sobbed out, the fear-filled, choking sounds little more than animalistic whines in the gripping anguish of her unbelievable horror. From that point, the huge dog never seemed to hesitate, but moved as if his intentions had been predetermined. He mounted her from behind, his powerful forepaws clutching at the soft, white flesh of her youthfully cubed hips, his wet tongue hanging loosely from his rapaciously open mouth!

Annie dared not breathe! She was that terrified with his sudden clamber up behind her unprotected nakedness, his strong, hairy forelegs clutching at her narrow waist and the arch of her hips! Hadn't she seen animals do it together like this a thousand times? Good Lord... ! Her firm young breasts quivered and swayed beneath her chest from the jarring force of his luridly obscene position behind her defenselessly upraised buttocks. Then suddenly, she felt the gold medallion that hung from his neck grazing the smooth-fleshed hollow of her nude back! He... he was going... going to do it to her... as if she were nothing more than a... a whining bitch dog!